BvS sucks!
Saturday night we went to see the heavily-promoted Batman v Superman Dawn of Justice. On the plus side, there were some solid performances from Ben Affleck, Amy Adams, Laurence Fishburne and Gal Gadet, and some excellent 3-D effects. Unfortunately, the negative reviews are mostly correct.
Director Zack Snyder seems to have no idea who his lead characters are. Henry Cavill's Superman is a far cry from the wholesome corn-fed hero of the comics and previous screen depictions. The closest he comes to being human is a scene where he climbs into a bathtub with Adams's Lois Lane. Batman forgets his perennial aversion to firearms and guns down several adversaries. He grandly declares that if there is a one percent chance that Superman might be a threat, he should be terminated. This is not the same hero who keeps turning the Joker over to the authorities, is it?
As Alfred, Jeremy Irons simply has too much gravitas. He steals every scene he's in, instead of being the quiet conscience of the man he supposedly raised.
Fishburne is poorly served by the script. His Perry White is a petulant, parsimonious prig, setting Clark Kent to covering a sports story and what should be a society-page puff piece for no apparent reason.
Other critics have taken Jesse Eisenberg to task for his manic performance as Lex Luthor, but I found it to be consistent, at least. Ever since John Byrne recast Lex as an evil narcissistic tycoon in the late 1980's, the role has called for a bravura performance, barring Michael Rosenbaum's nuanced version on Smallville. The script doesn't provide a good reason for his hatred of the two caped heroes, but that's one of its lesser failings.
Lex orchestrates the promised conflict with a stratagem that makes less sense than a Road Runner cartoon using information he has no cause to know. He also creates the surprise guest villain, but rather than conforming to the print original, Snyder makes him look like a cave troll from Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings.
My advice on Batman v Superman is to wait until it comes out on Netflix and then to watch something else instead.
Director Zack Snyder seems to have no idea who his lead characters are. Henry Cavill's Superman is a far cry from the wholesome corn-fed hero of the comics and previous screen depictions. The closest he comes to being human is a scene where he climbs into a bathtub with Adams's Lois Lane. Batman forgets his perennial aversion to firearms and guns down several adversaries. He grandly declares that if there is a one percent chance that Superman might be a threat, he should be terminated. This is not the same hero who keeps turning the Joker over to the authorities, is it?
As Alfred, Jeremy Irons simply has too much gravitas. He steals every scene he's in, instead of being the quiet conscience of the man he supposedly raised.
Fishburne is poorly served by the script. His Perry White is a petulant, parsimonious prig, setting Clark Kent to covering a sports story and what should be a society-page puff piece for no apparent reason.
Other critics have taken Jesse Eisenberg to task for his manic performance as Lex Luthor, but I found it to be consistent, at least. Ever since John Byrne recast Lex as an evil narcissistic tycoon in the late 1980's, the role has called for a bravura performance, barring Michael Rosenbaum's nuanced version on Smallville. The script doesn't provide a good reason for his hatred of the two caped heroes, but that's one of its lesser failings.
Lex orchestrates the promised conflict with a stratagem that makes less sense than a Road Runner cartoon using information he has no cause to know. He also creates the surprise guest villain, but rather than conforming to the print original, Snyder makes him look like a cave troll from Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings.
My advice on Batman v Superman is to wait until it comes out on Netflix and then to watch something else instead.